1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording playback apparatus preferably applied to, for example, a recording apparatus having the function of an Electric-to-Electric (EE) mode in which video signals and audio signals that are externally received are output without being recorded and played back, a method of controlling the recording playback apparatus, and an editing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Editing apparatuses having a function of controlling both players and recorders have been used in the production field of video content. Such editing apparatuses are capable of performing assemble editing and insert editing by controlling the players (at the playback side) and the recorders (at the recording side).
For example, in the insert editing, a base material (video) that is being played back by the recorder is replaced with a video that is being played back by the player at a time when a user performs an operation to specify an edit IN (start) point with the editing apparatus. The replacement is finished at a time when the user performs an operation to specify an edit OUT (end) point with the editing apparatus to switch to the base video.
In other words, the editing apparatus instructs the edit IN point and the edit OUT point for the player and the recorder. In addition, the editing apparatus controls the playback positions of the player and the recorder on the basis of time code so that the temporal position of an editing video that is being played back by the player coincides with the temporal position of a base video that is being played back by the recorder.
Furthermore, in the specification of the edit IN point and the edit OUT point, the editing apparatus switches between the output of a video recorded in the player and the output of a video recorded in the recorder to display each of the videos on the screen of one video monitor. Accordingly, the user can set the edit IN point and the edit OUT point while watching both the editing video and the base video on one screen.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an editing system 50 in related art configured in the above manner. Referring to FIG. 5, the editing system 50 includes an editor apparatus 100, a player apparatus 200, a recorder apparatus 300, a video monitor apparatus 400, and a speaker apparatus 500.
The editor apparatus 100 is an editing apparatus having a function of controlling the recorder apparatus 300 and the player apparatus 200 on the basis of operations with an operation panel (not shown).
The player apparatus 200 plays back editing video and audio on the basis of control by the editor apparatus 100 to supply the resulting video and audio signals to the recorder apparatus 300. The recorder apparatus 300 supplies either the video and audio signals supplied from the player apparatus 200 or the video and audio signals played back by the recorder apparatus 300 to the video monitor apparatus 400 and the speaker apparatus 500, respectively, on the basis of control by the editor apparatus 100.
In the output of the video signal and the audio signal supplied from the player apparatus 200 by the recorder apparatus 300, the function of the EE mode is used. The function of the EE mode is a function of outputting a video signal and an audio signal externally input through a video input terminal and an audio input terminal (not shown) from a video output terminal and an audio output terminal (not shown) without recording and playing back the video signal and the audio signal. The output of video or audio played back by the player apparatus 200 from the recorder apparatus 300 by the function of the EE mode is hereinafter referred to as an “EE output.” The control for output of the state of editing to the video monitor apparatus 400 and the speaker apparatus 500, described above, is hereinafter referred to as “Recorder-Player-Recorder (R-P-R) control.”
FIG. 6 illustrates an example of how the R-P-R control in the related art is performed. Referring to FIG. 6, the horizontal axis represents time and numerical values, such as “−3” and “−2”, indicate the frame numbers of video signals with respect to the edit IN point (“0”). FIG. 6(a) illustrates an EE output and FIG. 6(b) illustrates the output of a video signal played back by the recorder apparatus 300 (recorder playback output). FIG. 6(c) illustrates a video signal output from the recorder apparatus 300 as the result of the R-P-R control as an “R-P-R control output.” Although the example of how to control the video signal is illustrated in FIG. 6, an audio signal is controlled in a similar manner.
In response to setting of the edit IN point by the editor apparatus 100, the video as the result of the EE output, illustrated in FIG. 6(a), is supplied to the video monitor apparatus 400 by the R-P-R control (FIG. 6(c)). In response to setting of the edit OUT point by the editor apparatus 100, the video signal that is being played back by the recorder apparatus 300, illustrated in FIG. 6(b), is supplied from the recorder apparatus 300 to the video monitor apparatus 400 (FIG. 6(c)).
However, practically, the frame position corresponding to the edit IN point does not exactly coincide with the frame position corresponding to the edit OUT point in both the EE output and the recorder playback output, unlike the example in FIG. 6. This is because a delay is caused by signal processing in the output of the video signal that is being played back by the player apparatus 200 from the recorder apparatus 300 with the function of the EE mode. Specifically, the timing of the EE output is slightly delayed because of the signal processing, such as analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion and conversion of the transmission mode, in the recorder apparatus 300.
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of how the R-P-R control is performed when an EE delay of a few lines occurs. The same reference numerals are used in FIG. 7 to identify the same components in FIG. 6. In the example in FIG. 7, a latter part of a frame “−1” is being output from the recorder apparatus 300 at a time when the edit IN point is specified, as illustrated in FIG. 7(b).
In other words, as illustrated in FIG. 7(d), a video signal corresponding to a latter part of the frame “−1” is being output at the time when the edit IN point is specified also in the R-P-R control output from the recorder apparatus 300. Accordingly, a video in which the video of the frame “−1” is mixed with the video of a frame “0” is displayed on the screen of the video monitor apparatus 400. However, when an EE delay of a few lines occurs, as in the example in FIG. 7, it is possible to set the edit IN point and the edit OUT point even if a shift occurs in the video displayed in the video monitor apparatus 400.
When only standard definition (SD) signals have been processed in the recorder apparatus 300, as in the related art, EE delays of only around a few lines have occurred. However, when video signals having a large amount of information, such as high definition (HD) signals, are also processed, EE delays of a large amount, for example, EE delays in units of frames occur. This is because a conversion process with the SD signals and an Interlace-Progressive conversion process are generally installed in the recorder apparatus 300 processing the HD signals and it takes a time corresponding to about one to two frames to perform such signal processing. In other words, a delay corresponding to the processing time occurs in the EE-mode signal.
As described above, when a large EE delay of, for example, one frame or more occurs, the frame displayed on the screen of the video monitor apparatus 400 is shifted from the frame in which the edit point is practically set as the result of the R-P-R control in the related art. In other words, it is not possible to appropriately set the edit IN point and the edit OUT point.
As one approach to resolve such a problem, a method of playing back a result that has been practically edited and recorded in the recorder apparatus 300 and supplying the result to the video monitor apparatus 4 and the speaker apparatus 5 is commonly used. Such a playback method is called “confirmation playback”, which is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-266483.
FIG. 8 illustrates an example of how the R-P-R control is performed when an EE delay of one frame occurs. In the example in FIG. 8, the recorder apparatus 300 performs the confirmation playback to resolve the problem in that the video played back by the player apparatus 200 is shifted from the video played back by the recorder apparatus 300 in the playback position.
FIG. 8(a) illustrates a video signal that is being played back by the player apparatus 200 as a “player output.” FIG. 8(b) illustrates an EE output from the recorder apparatus 300. FIG. 8(c) illustrates the output of a video signal played back by the recorder apparatus 300 (recorder playback output). FIG. 8(d) illustrates a video signal subjected to the confirmation playback by the recorder apparatus 300 as a “recorder confirmation output.”
Since it is assumed in the example in FIG. 8 that an EE delay of one frame occurs, the player output in FIG. 8(a) is shifted from the EE output in FIG. 8(b) by the amount corresponding to one frame at a time when the edit IN point is set. In other words, the video signal of a frame “0” is being output from the player apparatus 200 while the video signal of a frame “−1” is being output in the EE output through the recorder apparatus 300.
Since the confirmation playback is performed in the recorder apparatus 300, the video signal that is being subjected to the confirmation playback, illustrated in FIG. 8(d), is delayed from the video signal that is being played back by the recorder apparatus 300, illustrated in FIG. 8(c), by the amount corresponding to two frames.
This delay is caused by the confirmation playback and a delay of a few frames or more normally occurs in this case. Since the signal is output after recording signal processing and playback signal processing are finished in the recorder apparatus 300 in the control method by the confirmation playback, there is a problem in that it takes a longer time to achieve the result of the R-P-R control.
However, it is possible to resolve the problem in that the frame displayed on the screen of the video monitor apparatus is shifted from the frame in which the edit point is practically set by the confirmation playback although a process delay caused by the confirmation playback occurs. In other words, it is possible to achieve a result substantially similar to the result of the R-P-R control.